Path 2

Path 2

Wall Street Humor

September 16, 2008

Who says the Germans have no sense of humor? The Lehman collapse puts the lie to that.

Brits have for years made fun of the supposed lameness of German humor — see Monty Pythonite John Cleese‘s Fawlty Towers, which ragged on the stiffness of German tourists.

Stewart Lee‘s 2006 Guardian (U.K.) piece “Lost in Translation” tried to debunk that prejudice, explaining that Germans really can be funny. And I freely and warmly accept that, despite the fact that many of my relatives were slaughtered by Hitler‘s minions several decades ago.

Now, amid the Wall Street gnashing of teeth comes one of Germany’s highest-ranking politicians to inject the kind of mordant humor that his U.S. counterpart Hammerin’ Hank Paulson would never say for publication.

In light of this new turbulence, even German Finance Minister Peter Steinbrück has been forced to evoke unusually clear images when he speaks. As he sees it, the very people who had prematurely spoken about there being a light at the end of the tunnel will now be forced to realize “that, in reality, it was the light of an oncoming train.”